Switch
by kwordy
Summary: Bella has recovered from her insanity. What happens next? My first story, PLEASE review.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Of the many little-known facts about Isabella Swan, there are many interesting tidbits; but by far the most significant one of them all is the happenings of an early September morning when she was barely seven years old...

Bella climbed out of bed, elated at the arrival of her birthday. She rushed down the stairs, blissfully unaware of the inevitable doom that would result from this simple action. She tripped a few steps from the bottom and fell, hitting her head on the banister.

Her mother was concerned, though sincerely less than shocked. She may have taken far longer to notice that something had gone wrong in her daughter's mind had Bella not immediately begun to weep and beg earnestly for forgiveness for scratching the banister so horribly.

"Bella, sweetie, what are you talking about? You could have gotten hurt, I'm not worried about the _banister_."

Stubbornly ignoring her mother's words, she continued to plead for her to not be angry. Worried, her mother drove her immediately to the hospital, where they were informed that Bella had received a concussion. This statement was made blatantly obvious when she commented that it was lucky she had gotten it on a Saturday, preventing her from having to miss any school.

By Monday, whatever problems Bella had been having were apparently all cleared up, and she went to school as usual. However, just a month later Bella reverted back to her mentally-damaged self. She cried herself into a state of absolute misery before inexplicably stopping and going back to her usual self. This happened a few more times before the mystery was solved: Bella suffered from a form of multi-personality disorder, triggered by stress. Whenever the stress grew too strong, her mind would switch to another personality as a coping mechanism.

So Bella was put on medication to keep the stress from building up. For ten years, her life was fine. However, Renée sealed her daughter's fate with a single mistake. That mistake was never telling Charlie about Bella's condition or the medication she needed. And so, when Bella moved to Forks, she was lost without her pills and fell into the hopeless insanity that resulted from too much stress in her actual self for her to change back to it.

That is the sad story of how she came to be the selfish, clueless, stubborn girl that fell for Edward Cullen. However, due to her rapidly approaching wedding, Bella's poor alter ego became as horribly stressed as her true self. Finally, the stress overwhelmed her second personality and she was forced back into her normal one.

The timing of the switch was nothing short of immaculate, for the night of the switch was directly before what was meant to be the night Bella Swan became Bella Cullen.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Bella was crying in her bed. She had done this many times since she came to Forks, but this felt different for some reason. She was still completely unaware of the little change that had occurred only minutes before. Confused and overwhelmed, she had no idea what had ever possessed her to want to marry Edward, even if he _hadn't_ been a vampire. Her cries grew louder as her eyes fall upon a small charm in the shape of a heart on her bracelet.

She tore it off and sent it flying across the room just as her father walked in. His eyes widened in absolute shock at her misery before his expression smoothed into one of understanding.

"Is this about Edward?" he asked, his voice filled with a hope that would have annoyed Bella mere hours before.

Barely looking up, she sniffled and nodded. She couldn't understand how her world had turned itself upside down so quickly, but what she really couldn't understand was how she'd gotten into this mess.

"It's okay," Charlie soothed, "it's a shame, but you can get out of this. You don't have to marry him," he finished, smugness poorly hidden in his voice.

As Bella opened her mouth to answer, the phone rang.

"I'll be right back," said her father, disappearing for a moment. A strange look on his face, he returned a few moments later. "It's Alice. She wants to talk to you."

Bella stumbled out of her room, avoiding Charlie's questioning look.

_Did she see something? Of course, she would have seen _me._ Was I about to call off the wedding? I'm still going to do that,_ she decided. _Does she really think one phone call can change everything back to the way it was?_

"Hello?" she whispered, annoyed a little at the uncertainty in her voice. Just for once, she had to make a decision and stand by it. She wasn't going to marry Edward.

"Bella, what are you _doing?_ Your future keeps changing. I had to hurry to keep Edward from reading my mind and seeing you call off the wedding! You couldn't have picked a worse time to get cold feet. If you try and call it off, he'll think you changed your mind about him and he'll-

"Alice, let me stop you right there. I'm _not_ marrying Edward, and I _am_ changing my mind about him. Put him on the phone, I need to talk to him," Bella said, silently cheering herself on for managing to say it.

"Bella, I'm not putting him on the phone. And I'm definitely not telling him about this. I'll be there in five minutes. Get Charlie out of your room, and we can work this out."

"Alice, I already-" Bella cut herself off as Alice hung up. Wiping her tears, she made her way back up to her room.

"I'm okay, Dad. I just need to be alone." Her skills in lying did not seem to have improved; even to her own ears her words sounded forced. Luckily, her father seemed to have no problems with leaving her to be with her thoughts in her dark little room.

She had barely sat down on the edge of her bed when she heard a soft knock on her window. Shaking, she opened it.

"That was about two minutes. You said five," she sighed, aware that there was no reasoning with Alice. But, to her shock, the figure that climbed through her window was not Alice.

It was Edward.

"Bella, is this about Jacob? I want you to know that I want you to be as happy as you can be, and if that is with him, then so be it. But first, please hear me out. I-

"I made up my mind, Edward. And sneaking into my bedroom in the middle of the night is pretty creepy, just so you know. I'm sorry things didn't work out," she finished. After a few moments, she started to wonder why he was still there.

"So it _is_ Jacob? I never should have left. If I had known then that it would cause you to leave me for a _dog_, it would never have crossed my mind to leave you for so much as a second. I would have stood by your side, and never left for as long as I lived-

"I didn't even think it was possible for you to be a more insanely possessive weirdo, but you just did it," Bella muttered. "Sorry for interrupting again."

Edward shook his head in disbelief. "You leave me for a werewolf, but you apologize for interrupting me?"

"I'm not leaving you for Jacob; I'm just leaving you. Don't try and make this about him. This is about you being a vampire that wants to suck my blood. And it's about you being this really annoying, brooding drama queen," she snapped, wondering if that was a bit harsh, even if it _was_ true.

"Bella, what's changed? I thought you loved me."

"I don't know. I think I stopped being insane or something. You're just _so_ wrong for me." After a moment's hesitation, she added "I think you should go."

"Goodbye, Bella. I will always be waiting in the wings. You may never leave Jacob, but he will be forced to leave _you_ when he imprints. I will love you forever. At least this way, you may remain human and never be forced to sacrifice your soul for-

"I get it, _please_ just leave already. And what part of 'this isn't about Jacob' is confusing you?" she groaned. She hadn't meant to interrupt him again, but there were only so many monologues she could put up with in a night.

"Farewell, my love," Edward breathed as he leaped out the window.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bella braced herself as she stared at the Cullen's house. The time had come to say her last goodbyes to her second family, and she wasn't looking forward to it. Even though she had decided she was too smart to hang out with vampires anymore, that didn't mean she was looking forward to never seeing them again. But she knew that she couldn't put this off forever. She would just get this over with and put it behind her.

Only two days had passed since she left Edward, and she was getting even more stares than when they had announced their engagement. As little as she enjoyed attention, she was relieved to finally escape from all the prying eyes, if only for a few minutes. She took a deep breath and reached out to knock on the door, but it was opened by Alice before she got the chance.

"I'm not mad at you anymore," Alice announced.

"Is everyone else there? I have some things I need to say," Bella whispered.

"You could apologize anyway, you know. It's not like I spent _months_ planning the wedding you just threw away or anything, but it would be a nice thought if you apologized. Especially since now I'm stuck with just one sister for all eternity," Alice pouted.

Bella pushed her way through the door to find the entire Cullen family except for Edward waiting for her. She forced a smile and gave them a timid "Hi."

They stared at her for a long moment as she shifted uncomfortably. Then, one by one, they came up to her and gave her a hug.

"Goodbye, Bella. I'll always think of you as my daughter," Esmé whispered tearfully, pulling her closer.

"So will I. I hope you'll be happy with your choice. I want to wish you good luck, as I cannot be there to help you through life as I had intended," Carlisle whispered.

"Bye, Bella. And let me plan your _actual_ wedding or I'll kill you and drink your blood," Alice hissed, adding "Just kidding," when she saw the startled expressions of everyone in the room.

Jasper took a deep breath and held it before embracing her. He said nothing, but sent a very warm, soothing feeling through her.

"Bella, you made the right choice," Rosalie whispered in Bella's ear.

"Yeah, don't let Edward hear you saying that, though. He might come back from Alaska and beat you up," Emmett cut in. "Bella, you are going to miss _so much fun._ I came up with this awesome idea where we all dress up as vampires for Halloween this year, with fangs and a cape and everything, then we-

"Emmett, is that really the last thing you ever want to say to her?" Esmé pressed.

"Right, I forgot. I won my bet against Jasper since you're never going to kill anyone!"

"I think the bet's off, since she's not a vampire," Jasper pointed out.

"Fine," Emmett sulked. "Bye. If you ever need someone dead, you know who to call," he finished with a grin.

"I'm going to miss all of you. I guess this is the last time I'll see you for a while. Keep in touch, okay?" Bella said, aware that she _would_ sincerely miss them if there wasn't a part of all of them that wanted to drink her blood. That was just gross.

They all exchanged a glance before telling her they would most certainly keep in touch.

"We're going to Alaska for a few years with Edward, but we'll be back someday. Don't worry, you can't get rid of us _that_ easily," Alice insisted.

Bella smiled to herself, deciding that was about as mixed a blessing as you could get. "Thanks, Alice. I'll be doing the 'normal human' thing from now on, so I'll probably need a few years to adjust."

And so, with that final sentence, Bella walked out of the Cullens' house and out of their lives. Or so she thought.

A few steps away, she turned around and ran back to give Alice the keys to the car Edward had given her and the heart-shaped charm from her bracelet.


	4. Chapter 3

Bella and the Cullens kept in touch for only a short while, as the tension with Edward was too much for them to overcome. She did, however, after considering Edward's accusations regarding her true reasons for leaving him, start to wonder if he might have a point and reinstate contact with a close personal friend by the name of Jacob Black. She was hesitant to have anyone in her life that was anything other than human, but she and Jacob had been friends for so long that she felt almost obligated to give him a chance; _he_ at least didn't want to drink her blood.

Their friendship had been mended for barely a week when Jacob asked her on a date.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Jake...I've been trying to make my life more normal. I don't think dating a werewolf would really be a good idea."

"So you can get engaged to a vampire, but you can't even _date_ a werewolf?" he challenged.

"Oh yeah, look what a great idea getting engaged to a vampire turned out to be. That worked out really well," Bella muttered, words laced with sarcasm.

"I told you what a bad idea Edward was, didn't I? And I was right. I think I'm right about me, too."

She continued to insist being with him would be a terrible idea, and left. For a few weeks, she carefully avoided his calls and refused to go down to La Push, despite Charlie's urging. She knew she was being childish by not talking to him, but she hadn't gone to all that trouble with Edward just so that she could jump into a relationship with some other mythical creature.

She made hasty plans to go to college, even though she just barely had the money for that and had been accepted to few places other than the University of Alaska. With a few last-minute applications she doubted would be considered, she finalized her plans.

She had booked her flight and was climbing into her truck to drive to the airport when she noticed a certain werewolf standing in the driveway. He walked over to her as she rolled down the window, and leaned over to whisper in her ear so her father couldn't hear.

"Once I stop phasing, I'm not a werewolf anymore, you know. You say you made up your mind, but think about it. You have my number; call me, okay?"

Bella nodded as she backed out of the driveway, and drove to the airport in silence.

She spent several months at college thinking over what he had said, weighing a life with him against a life without him. She thought about it long and hard, considering her life and what she wanted out of it, trying to figure out how he would fit into that. Finally, she realized that her choice had been right in front of her the whole time and called him immediately.

"Hello?" he sighed.

"Hi, Jacob."

"Have you made up your mind?" he asked.

"I have," she said with absolute certainty.


	5. Epilogue

Author's Note: This is the last chapter, let me know what you think! :)

Edward Cullen drove into Jacksonville under cover of dark. Today marked twenty years since the last time he had seen Bella, and he was anxious to see how life had treated her. After asking around as discreetly as possible so as to avoid coming across anyone who knew what age he _should_ be, he had learned that his long-lost bride-to-be had moved closer to her mother to go to college and, hopefully, avoid the Volturi.

He finally arrived at the little restaurant he had been told Bella worked at. He sighed with relief that is was still open, and went in. They were just about to close up, and regretfully told him so, which he waved aside, asking to speak to Bella. They seemed confused, but brought him to the kitchen, where she was carefully rinsing a pan.

"Can I help you?" she said uncertainly when he walked in, and he couldn't resist laughing at the way she pretended not to recognize him. Her eyes widened and jaw dropped. "Oh..." she breathed.

"I wanted to see if you were happy with your choice. I could never be sure that you were better off without me and I had to know if you still wished to be with Jacob."

"Twenty years, and you still haven't realized it was _never_ about Jacob. Edward, you should go," she stated firmly.

Shock flitted through his mind. "Bella, you know that if there were any way that I could become human for you, no matter what the price, I would do it in a heartbeat. I cannot help that I am a vampire."

"I know. I wouldn't be interested, even if you _were_ human."

"But...why?" was all he could get out.

"Edward, I'm not in love with you. I've moved on with my life. I have my friends and a family and a job, and they _all_ mean more to me than you do. Why do you keep trying to make this about other things? This isn't about what you are, or who else is out there, it's about me not being interested. You're just... a boy who can never be anything more than a whiny, depressed seventeen-year-old student. I don't know what anyone could ever see in you," she said, then seemed embarrassed by her ourburst.

"So you've found someone else?" he whispered, bracing himself for her answer.

"That's not the point, I-

"Then we can give this another shot, we can make it work! I would never ask you to sacrifice anything for me, I just want you to give me another chance."

"Edward, you're seventeen, I'm thirty-eight. How would that _ever_ work?"

"I don't care what people think, Bella. I love you."

"Move on, Edward. I have," she said, and with that she left the room.

She went home and made a late dinner. She called her mother and they talked for half an hour, and eventually fell asleep watching a few of her favorite movies. When she woke up the next morning, she went about life as usual, resolving to never again spare Edward Cullen so much as a thought.

Of the many well-known facts about Isabella Black, there are many interesting tidbits; but by far the most significant one of them all is the fact that, if there is one thing she knows how to do, it's take care of herself and move on. As for Edward...not so much.


End file.
